Budgetary allocation for Environment Ministry unchanged

The budgetary allocation for Environment Ministry today remained the same as last time--at Rs 2,430 crore.
Presenting the budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the government would evolve a scheme to encourage cities and municipalities to take up waste-to-energy projects in PPP mode which would be neutral to different technologies.
"India tosses out several thousand tonnes of garbage each day...I propose to support municipalities that will implement waste-to-energy projects through different instruments such as viability gap funding, repayable grant and low cost capital," he said.
He said clean and green energy is a priority of the government.
"However, despite cost advantages in labour, land and construction, the consumer pays a high price for renewable energy. One of the reasons is high cost of finance," he said.

Chidambaram said that in order to provide low-cost finance, government will provide low interest bearing funds from the National Clean Energy Fund (NCEF) to IREDA (Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency) to on-lend to viable renewable energy projects.

"The scheme will have a life span of five years," he said.
He said the non-conventional wind energy sector deserves incentives.
"Hence, I propose to reintroduce 'generation-based incentive' for wind energy projects and provide Rs 800 crore to the Ministry of Renewable Energy for the purpose," he added.